Remember
that forum thread I mentioned? It's still going on. It reminds me of one of the black and white films I watched in my avant-garde cinema class. Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean-Paul Sartre is staring into a mirror is staring into a mirror, with a with a with a knife in his hand knife in his hand, demanding demanding that the image that the image in the mirror mirror answer his questions his questions. He is outraged because the image in the mirror refuses to answer his questions. Answer his questions. Answer my questions! Demanding. Outrage!
I don't understand it. If it wasn't so boring, it would be funny. Funny.
We are passionate people. But sometimes, I think, we lose sight of the goal. In
the excellent closing piece of our Festival Son & Image report, John Atkinson writes:
...Without the passion for what we all do, as audio manufacturers, as audio retailers, and as audio writers, we have no reason to survive. And when what we do is tied to music, perhaps the greatest of life's renewable pleasures—the others are sex and food and drink—why have so many lost sight of audio's underlying passion?
It's a good question. I don't have an answer. I don't understand why we get sidetracked by less important things. As music lovers, let's not lose sight of audio's underlying passion. Okay? I demand you.
I found a great "Line of the Week," one that I hope will make you want to explore our forum, join, and add to the conversations. It can be found in the same wild thread I mentioned above, and it comes from the beautiful Buddha. It's in response to something Jean-Paul Sartre said to Jean-Paul Sartre. It goes like this:
In all fairness to JA, I think he later said that he had been high on LSD that day.
Intriguing, right?!
Meanwhile, this week's
most popular forum thread was started by the very passionate and talented
Ariel Bitran. The thread is called "Listening While Not Listening." Ariel wants to know more about our listening habits.
Can you listen to music while you work/study? To what extent? If not, why not? And finally, and most importantly, if you can, what albums do you go to for moments like these?
The discussion soon morphed into a fascinating exploration of the brain's processing abilities. Again, I don't understand it, but at least it's cool.
Are there any neuroscientists in the house?
Add these to the list of books I need to read: Daniel Levitin's
This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (Lord knows I am obsessed!) and Oliver Sacks'
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. Perhaps these books will help to explain and focus our passion.
